Day 10 - Paradise Valley, AZ to Scottsdale, AZ

[Paradise Valley, AZ to Scottsdale, AZ] Well, today was supposed to have been from Paradise Valley to Gila Bend. Read on and you'll understand why the change.

As planned, we arose at 6:00a.m. (sharp). Grabbed some coffee and Linda had her Raw Bits Twang Twang. We finished loading Wilma and left before 6:45a.m. after saying our fond farewells.

Pulled into the vet clinic just before 7:00a.m. and Linda went in to see if our CWF could be seen. She came back out and got us right away. The veterinary technician took Maggie's temperature, weighed her and checked her heart. She then went off to find Dr. Soltero, who happened to already be there. Dr. Soltero took a feel of the lump on Maggie's neck and pretty much immediately concluded there was an infection. It was interesting because he had a younger vet come in and he asked him this and that about Maggie and what he should do. John thinks there was a great teaching experience going on.

If you're queasy, skip this paragraph. Dr. Soltero had the other vet get a lance and they lanced the lump on Maggie's neck. Linda said we shouldn't write about all the puss and blood that flowed out, so we won't. Dr. Soltero kept working it and it kept coming out. Finally, he took a hypodermic syringe and filled it with hydrogen peroxide. He put a funny looking curved "needle" on it that wasn't sharp. He shoved it into the lance hole and filled that lump with hydrogen peroxide. It musta foamed for three minutes. He said that was probably one of the best things he could do for her. He had shaved some areas bare before doing the lancing. That made it much easier to see the actual puncture wounds.

He checked her other wounds and they seem to be doing OK. Dr. Soltero also changed antibiotics to a stronger anaerobic one. Now comes the part that shows you how you need to be flexible and roll with the punches when you road trip. We had told Dr. Soltero that we were headed for Gila Bend. He said he really would like to see Maggie again on Wednesday, if possible. Sooooo, we will be spending two days in Scottsdale and going back into the vet clinic on Wednesday for our appointment to see Dr. Rick. We are so pleased with the care Maggie has received at the Saguaro Veterinary Clinic.

Thus, we are foregoing our trip segments to Gila Bend (Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument) and Yuma. But that's OK. It's probably going to be around for the rest of this century, at least. And we have seen lots of cactus by now. We even saw a lot of organ pipe cactus at the Botanical Garden last Saturday. If Maggie's OK on Wednesday, we'll head directly to San Diego for that portion of the trip. For those of you participating in our Mileage Madness Game, the revised itinerary has been posted and is available as a pdf file by clicking here. If, for some reason, we have to further change the itinerary, we'll let you know in a posting and update the Mileage Madness Game itinerary once again. We have the prize for the winner and it is very nice. Here's another clue: The whole time we were in Paradise Valley going out for day trips, we went in Gloria's freebie Lexus (from a Catholic raffle) while Wilma lounged around in the driveway.

After our vet visit, we sat in the parking lot and used our mobile phones to cancel our lodging reservations in Gila Bend and Yuma. We then employed Wilma's marvelous navigation system to list all hotels beginning with the closest to where we were sitting. We were looking for something like a Comfort Inn or Quality Inn as we knew the prices would be good and they have a nice complimentary breakfast. We wanted one close to the vet clinic for Wednesday's appearance. We found one. Good rate. Complimentary breakfast. Nearby. Even though check-in wasn't until 3:00p.m., when I explained the situation, the desk clerk said they had rooms available and we could come over at any time.

John hadn't yet had breakfast, so we used the nav system again to search for nearby restaurants, sorted from closest to furthest. John scrolled down and found an IHOP about three miles away. He had been wanting a chance to go to one on our trip. This was it! Linda had eaten her raw bits, but took the opportunity to get a bowl of fruit, dekaf coffee and a glass of grapefruit juice. John got orange juice, two eggs with hashbrowns, 3 sausages, 3 bacon strips and two pecan pie pancakes. Yes, two pancakes with pecan syrup and glazed pecans on top. Oh, they were good.

After breakfast, we checked into our accomodations. A few minutes into our room and the phone rang. It was the front desk wanting to know if everything was satisfactory. Wonder of wonders, most of the good customer service in the world must have come here.

We worked on some travelogue things and decided to have lunch in our room. We needed some items from the grocery. We used Wilma's nav again to find the nearest Fry's Marketplace (less than three miles). John and Maggie waited while Linda shopped for doggie nurse supplies and a few food items. Went back to our room for a nice lunch. We'll go out this evening for dinner.

We're keeping an eye on Maggie and are expecting that today's vet visit and the new medication will get her on her way to getting well. Even though Misty didn't tear open enough of Maggie's flesh to require stitches, you can feel where she pulled some muscles loose under the skin. That's gotta hurt!

Even though it was not anyone's fault, everyone feels badly about the injury (especially Maggie.... maybe not so much Misty). This incident in no way detracted from our visit with Linda's sister which was an important purpose for the whole road trip.

Depending on how Maggie's doing tomorrow, we might go on a short local adventure. We certainly know one thing. Any vehicle we own in the future will have a navigation system at least as good as Wilma's. Her's is great and they'll only get better in the future.

Sorry, no picture gallery today. Hopefully, we can get out and about a bit tomorrow and take some interesting pictures for you.

Rest well and we'll keep you current on what we're doing.